Earlier today, this fellow was nibbling one of the willow trees near the driveway to our field, across the street. He is a young bull, probably only 4.5’ tall at the shoulder. In the early evening, I noticed he made a wallow in the snow near the pen where the laying hens spend the summer. […]
Today was egg washing day. Melissa had some sitting out to dry before they were packed and the sunlight was hitting them just right to bring out the blue color in some of them. Disappointingly, blue chicken eggs only look blue in the proper light conditions. In the coop, I can seldom see any difference
The temperatures in the biomeiler pile are measured with thermocouples buried in several locations. Nine of them are found at three heights (1’, 2’, and 3’ above the ground) in the inner core, outer core, and mantle of the pile. The graph in today’s post shows the temperatures measured by thermocouples at 2’ height. These
February Experiment Results, part 2 Read More »
The graph shows the temperature in the chicken coop, the temperature of the air in the vent pipe coming from the biomeiler, and the temperature of the outdoor air. The electrical energy usage is shown for any days when the electric heater was used. The scale is the same, but the units are in kWh.
February Experiment Results Read More »
During the week, I was tidying up my application for the Arctic Innovation Competition. I slightly improved the 3-D printed components by adding another hole to the face. The prototype now works well enough to demonstrate the working concept and I began taking pictures of it in use. This morning, I finished taking pictures and
AIC Application Submitted Read More »
While I was preparing my breakfast on Tuesday, I saw this fellow sitting on the far side of the yard. He was back, again, this morning. This is probably a snowshoe hare. We also have cottontail rabbits, feral rabbits, and hybrids in the area. In the southwest of the state, there are Alaska hares,
Guest for Breakfast Read More »
Yesterday, Melissa and I drove to Delta Junction to attend the Delta Farm Forum. This event is held annually to give the local farmers a venue to hear presentations on topics of interest in that area. Delta Junction is one of the agricultural centers of Alaska. Delta barley is well-known throughout the state, but there
It has been some time since the last post because I have been occupied preparing an entry for the 2025 Arctic Innovation Competition. This competition is annually held in Fairbanks to encourage and recognize creative ideas for new products or solutions. The innovations don’t have to be related to the arctic, but that was the
Arctic Innovation Competition Read More »
While running the compressor to aerate the biomeiler pile, I noticed that the back pressure was unusually high; about 30 psi. Typically, the gauge reads about 5 psi. Yesterday, the reading was about 12 psi, but that wasn’t unusual enough to catch my attention. I looked for kinks in the hose, but found none. My
We have recently seen the temperatures rising and falling, which often has the effect of loosening water molecules from the snow in sunny areas and allowing them to drift freely during the day. If outdoor objects are colder than the air and water molecules collide with them, the molecules stick to the objects and a